FREEDOM!!!! [3]

Tonights game should be interesting! Got Scotland for the win in this one.

It's a friendly so probably.

No such thing in a Scotland v England game

Still feeling a Scotland win?

Heroic last minute come-back. To be celebrated by buckie.
Or forgettable defeat to be wiped from memory, by buckie Either way I know who the real winner is and it ain't my liver

Interesting development-

'Scotland's first pro-independence daily newspaper is to be launched.
The National will be produced by Newsquest, the company behind The Herald and Sunday Herald newspapers.'- BBC

Shame it wasn't around before the referendum when every piece of the media, press and tv were arrayed on the side of the Unionists.
Says something about the current mood in Scotland perhaps as Cameron tries to play politics with the Unionist Pledge and UKIP seem to be storming England.

Glasgow's Hydro Arena- recently been host to Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue.



So who packed it out this weekend?-

Spoiler:

oh its The Muppet Show. nice.

Hey dont you mock our wonderful new leader- she is going to lead us to the promised land of independence you know

ok

This is the chance for everybody who was like "I don't like Alex Salmond and that alone is enough to oppose Scottish independence" to put up or shut up.

(Not directed at anyone in particular.)

She is certainly a lot less divisive and has more appeal to traditional Labour supporters, particularly in the west and Glasgow and surrounding areas (traditional Labour heartlands) as she hails from there herself- Salmond is an east coaster and there has always been a certain amount of rivalry between east an west and Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Thats she is also a women might help too, as polling shows women were more hesitant about the risks of independence than men were and that Sturgeon has greater reach among female voters than Salmond did.

In political news Alex Salmond has announced he will stand for election to Westminister at next years General eelction.

If as predicted the SNP nick a whole swathe of Labour and Lib Dems seats that could make the SNP the king-makers in the event of another hung parliament- interesting times ahead!


But in bad news-

'Alcohol consumption in Scotland has fallen by the equivalent of 38 million pints of beer a year since 2009.'

Folk letting the side down There's only so much I can do on my own!

'There were also a third fewer alcohol-related deaths last year than a decade ago, and a 25% drop in alcohol related hospital admissions since 2007/08.'

Selfish bastards! Who is going to pay for all these people who should be dead by now?

Although there is a silver lining of sorts-

'However, alcohol sales remain 17% higher than in England and Wales.'

Granted that is probably mainly me

Pettytyrant101 wrote:In political news Alex Salmond has announced he will stand for election to Westminister at next years General eelction.

If as predicted the SNP nick a whole swathe of Labour and Lib Dems seats that could make the SNP the king-makers in the event of another hung parliament- interesting times ahead!

Interesting, SNP are almost certain to get a majority of Scottish MP seats next year, I have no idea who I'll vote for (it won't be any of the main 3 I wouldn't have thought..) and I don't think there is a front runner in England at least...part of me would like to see the SNP and UKIP forced into a coalition...

I cant see that happening. Though it would be very interesting!

My guess would be they would support a Labour government on a bill to bill basis- and be looking for some serious concessions- like a Scottish Oil Fund which has huge public backing here- in return.

But that all depends on the Labour vote holding up in England and Wales- which is pretty shaky right now.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I cant see that happening. Though it would be very interesting!

My guess would be they would support a Labour government on a bill to bill basis- and be looking for some serious concessions- like a Scottish Oil Fund which has huge public backing here- in return.

But that all depends on the Labour vote holding up in England and Wales- which is pretty shaky right now.

Labour (at least under Miliband's leadership) come across as spineless idiots fine with the status quote, The Tories are Tories, and the Lib Dems aren't worth voting for. UKIP are racist morons (even If I understand why people would vote for them) and the Green Party don't even stand in my local area, as bad as it sounds I don't know if I'll even bother voting.

I'm certain another coalition is likely to happen, it's going to be interested who though...

Problem for Labour is they are stuck between a rock and a hard place in a few different ways.

They need to get rid of Milliband- he is electoral toxin- but its too late to do it now and too close to the election. If the do it now they just look like they are in disarray and unfocused. And there would be a lengthy election for a new leader that would bring out the divisions between left and right in the party (just as it has in the Scottish Labour party).

Their other problem is that Scotland, which returns a lot of Labour MP's has stayed left of centre whilst Westminster Labour has moved right of centre in order to pick up votes in middle England.
They are having to promise to match Tory cuts to look strong on the economy- but betraying all their left wing credentials in doing so, and they are having to betray their left wing credentials on immigration too fighting off UKIP.
This is costing them votes in Scotland- people are going to SNP or Greens instead for socialist policies.
But it will also hurt them in the north of England- unfortunately when it comes to a party of protest UKIP holds that position in England and I dont know if disgruntled Labour voters will plump for them, or like yourself just not have anyone they feel they can vote for..

What's left is a party where know one knows what they stand for anymore.
They are supposed to be the party of the working classes but they are bending over backwards to take it from the middle classes instead.

Going on recent byelection results the Lib-Dems will be lucky to keep their deposit at most of the votes.
I think  they are out of the picture.
The Greens in Scotland have had a noticeable upswing, particularly in membership since they joined the YES campaign.
But they dont seem to be doing any better elsewhere in the UK so I see them as being a minority prty again.

Of course it would help if Westminster elections were PR and not first past the post- but that will never happen while the two main parties are in charge as it suits them best.

I might just vote for the Monster Raving Looney Party (yes, they are still going, one of my lecturers at College used to be a fundraiser for them...and he helped design Rockets for the US Defense Department...).

It's a shame the Referendum hasn't got young people in the rest of the UK more interested in politics, but I can't say I blame them, with the idiots in power at the moment there really dosen't seem to be much point in voting, at least with the Indy Ref you had a possible chance at changing things...

I do think UKIP has a chance of making major gains unfortunately, people in England especially are thoroughly p*ssed off with Mass Immigration, enough to vote for these idiots...

Problem with UKIP is not actually their immigration policies as such- bad as they are- its the rest of their manifesto- its crazy and terrifying.

My fear is England gives them power of some sort- coalition or otherwise, without realizing exactly what it is they are voting for.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Problem with UKIP is not actually their immigration policies as such- bad as they are- its the rest of their manifesto- its crazy and terrifying.

My fear is England gives them power of some sort- coalition or otherwise, without realizing exactly what it is they are voting for.

Yeah, I don't understand why they should suddenly be seen as part of the 'Big Three' when Greens etc don't get a look in, alot of people will probably vote for them as a protest vote (I highly doubt MR White Van Man from working class Bradford will take the time to read a hundreds pages long manifesto), it doesn't help with Reputable Papers such as The Sun giving them so much coverage, there isn't anything wrong with legitimizing parties such as UKIP, but people should look before they leap.

A tale of xmas spirit and generosity to warn the heart amidst what has been again a sadly tragic time of year for the people of Glasgow.

'A sandwich shop owner has been "blown away" by people's generosity after thousands bought Christmas meals for the homeless.
Josh Littlejohn, co-founder of Social Bite, hoped to raise enough to pay for 800 meals.
But they have massively surpassed their target, raising enough for 35,000 plates of turkey.
The chain said that the level of donations meant they will be able to feed homeless people all next year at their Edinburgh and Glasgow shops.'

A sandwich shop is a perfect vehicle for this, portion sized with no cooking.

Most people only need a leader to do the right thing. It's nice to see a small business owner stepping up to the plate.

Scottish Labour and their new leader Jim Murphy kicked off the General Election campaign in Scotland yesterday- and caused instant chaos!

This is a bit complex but its something I mentioned before about the problems inherent in Labour's position in Scotland post referendum.

Here's the problem- Labour have nosedived in every poll, especially in their former safe seat heartlands in the west of Scotland and Glasgow in particular.
Their last leader Johann Lamont resigned with stinging remarks that Westminster Labour treated Scottish Labour like a branch office.

This was hugely damaging as the political fight in Scotland centres to a large degree on the argument of who will best represent Scotland and stand up for Scottish issues.

So enter new leader Jim Murphy who immediately pledged that he would be leader of the party in Scotland and he would not have to consult anyone over policy in Scotland. This was an attempt to start winning back ground from the SNP and to stake a claim that under him Scottish Labour would fight for Scotland.

Yesterday he put that into action by pledging a further 1000 nurses in the Scottish NHS above the SNP pledge, to be funded from the proceeds of Westminster Labour's proposed Mansion Tax (a tax on property worth 2 million or over). But he made the announcement without consulting the Labour leadership in Westminster first.

All very well, except 95% of the Mansion Tax will be raised in England, the south of England in fact and London in particular.
This has greatly annoyed London politicians who see it as raiding English money to pay for extra things in the Scottish NHS when the English NHS is in a bit of Tory created crisis.

Now on the surface Jim Murphy is perfectly right to make such a pledge- after all we just voted to stay in the Union and I don't see anyone in England turning down the North Sea Oil revenue, or our water, or our electricity because it comes from Scotland, so why shouldn't money raised in England be used in Scotland? That is after all the whole point they told of us being in the Union and all pooling resources together.

But the manner in which Murphy has gone about it, the way he announced it was designed to impresse ex Scottish Labour voters into believing he really will stand up or Scotland even against his own Westminster party. That meant he was not exactly diplomatic about it so everyone got the message.

This seems to me to be just the first crack in the facade of UK Labour- the idea of having an semi, or entirely independent Scottish Labour, and a Westminster Labour cant possibly work.

An example of the sort of problem this creates is over renewing of the Trident nuclear fleet.
Scottish Labour is against it, they vote against it at their conference every single year.
So when the General election comes and Scottish voter vote for Labour, they might be forgiven for thinking they are voting against Trident- but they are not, the general election will elect the Westminster Labour party if they win, and they are pro-Trident.

Now if Scottish Labour keep trying to find Scottish causes to fight for, and reflect a more left of centre Scottish Labour to make back up ground lost to the SNP it will become increasingly out of step with the UK Labour party which would be in power at Westminster. To the point where it becomes hard to see how it can continue as a single UK wide party.

I like Jim Murphy. he's got cohones.

He's a Blairite- voted for the war n Iraq, backed the deregulation of the banks, part privatization of the NHS, pfi's- and now he is pretending to be left of centre- he is a hypocrite - he will say anything to get votes.